How to Prepare English for SBI Clerk Prelims 2018

If you are one of the lakhs of candidates appearing for SBI Clerk 2018 Exam, thorough preparation is the key to stay ahead in the competition. This year the exam pattern has changed. You need to focus more on the English Section so that it will be easy to manage within given time. This article will be helpful for you in preparation of English for SBI Clerk 2018.

Read this article to get the expert strategy for the preparation of Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading Comprehension, Verbal Ability and other topics in English.

SBI Clerk Prelims Exam Pattern 2018

Some changes are made in the exam pattern of SBI Prelims 2018. This year, sectional timing has been introduced. Now, you have to solve each section in 20 min. This makes it necessary to put on extra efforts for preparation of English Section as well as other sections. If you are weak in English, don’t worry we have the expert strategy.

Topics of English for SBI Clerk Exam 2018

The English section for the SBI Clerk exam can be broadly divided into 4 parts:

Vocabulary

Grammar

Reading Comprehension

Verbal Ability

There are 30 questions in English section of Preliminary Exam.

So in the time leading up to the SBI Clerk Prelims exam, make sure you practice Vocabulary, Grammar thoroughly. Also, familiarize yourself with how to solve Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability questions.

How to Learn Vocabulary in English for SBI Clerk

There are direct questions on the following topics in the prelims exam.

Cloze Test (5 or 10 blanks passage)

Fill in the Blanks (double blanks)

Error Spotting

The most interesting thing about building a vocabulary is that it doesn’t require any extraordinary efforts. It keeps on building whether you are reading a newspaper or a book. Whenever you come across a new word, take a minute to look it up in a dictionary or a thesaurus. Note down its meaning, synonyms and antonyms and its usage. At a later date, try to use these words in sentences of your own to revise the meanings. This would also help you enhance your understanding of the context of the passage.

Solve the vocabulary sections from previous years’ papers and time yourself. This should give you a good idea about the type of questions asked and the difficulty level. It will also give you a fair idea of how much work you need to do.

Go through the articles on Vocabulary like Easily Confused Words. You should also read the topics like Cloze Test.

Practice sectional tests of English every day. Chart your growth through Textbook’s analysis.

How to PracticeGrammer in English for SBI Clerk

There are questions on the following topics in the prelims exam.

Error Spotting

Phrase Replacement

Fill in the Blanks (double blanks type)

Around 5-10 questions in the paper will be from Grammar. The topics include basic grammar ones like Tenses, Articles, Prepositions, Degrees of Comparison, Subject-Verb Agreement, Conjunctions, Parts of Speech etc.

Most questions will test you on basic grammar rules so these need to be revised.

Previous year’s papers will give you a fair idea about the difficulty level of questions. So be sure to solve the grammar section from these papers and evaluate your performance.

How to Tackle Reading Comprehension in SBI Clerk

Reading Comprehension is scoring, easy to Solve topic. High Accuracy Possible if you prepare well.

The passage can either be based on a (moral) story or on topics like banking and economy, social issues, business etc. The questions will be directly based on the content of the passage. But you must be alert while choosing the correct option as the options sometimes are very similar.

The questions will be mainly fact-based and vocabulary-based. Some questions can also be asked on the main idea while some will ask you to draw inferences.

Though the passages are short, the habit of reading fast and understanding the intent of the passage needs to be developed to minimize the time and maximize the output.

Practice one comprehension question daily. Constant practice will help you achieve accuracy and minimize the time required.

How to Excel in Verbal Ability for SBI Clerk

Verbal Ability portion of English for SBI Clerk consists of a 6 sentence paragraph jumble with 5 questions based on it.

Follow the logic while answering these questions. Always keep in mind the overall story, as the passage will always tell you a story with a definite beginning, middle and end.

General Strategy for English for SBI Clerk

Remember that time is of the essence. Accuracy and speed can only be achieved by taking mock tests and timing yourself while you take those tests.

Spend time studying basic rules of grammar. These rules will help you crack many topics in the paper. Unlike vocabulary, the rules and concepts are often repeated. So if you practice enough, you will likely secure 5-10 marks in the paper.

Go through commonly asked word lists and try to revise their meanings for the vocabulary section.

You should try to solve at least one mock paper every day until the day of the exam.

Pick the questions you faced in past papers and mock tests and solve them by setting a time limit.

The time limit will help you with proper management.

It is advisable that you start with Grammar section first. Move on to the Verbal Ability section next as you can get several marks in one go. Follow this with the Vocabulary section because it is the fastest to get through. Get to the Reading Comprehension section last. But make sure to attempt the fact and vocab based questions in the RC before you attempt the theme/main idea based questions.